"We determined that re-mediating our current system would take over 12 months and cost more than $66 million, and the resulting product would likely still not meet our needs -- it would not be stable, sustainable and adaptable to our future business model. Based on this review, we recommended that the exchange leverage the Connecticut IT platform to upgrade the current technology for the website for open enrollment," Fitzgerald said.

She said it would take a year and $66 million to fix the existing site, while it would cost $40 million to $50 million to adopt the Connecticut model, which would take seven months to implement.

Health secretary Joshua Sharfstein is hoping the federal government will chip in.

"We recognize that hard questions will be asked, but we think this is the right thing to do for people in Maryland. We're going to explain that, and we believe we'll be able to convince people," he said.

Sharfstein said the goal is to have the site up and running again by Nov. 1, when open enrollment starts again.

"We've got a very tight time frame, though, and we realize there's risk there, but in the end, we thought this was the least risky path," Sharfstein said.

In Baltimore Tuesday, advocates for the homeless cheered the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which has put thousands more of the poor and low income in Maryland on the public health plan. Getting people enrolled in Medicaid has been the one part of the state's health insurance exchange that has worked.

"This has been a great success in Maryland, and a huge proportion of the people in Maryland who had no health care now have it," said Vinnie DeMarco, of Maryland Health Care for All.

But enrolling people in private plans where they pay subsidized premiums under the Affordable Care Act has been the big problem. The state's website, built by the former contractor Noridian, crashed upon launch and has limped along ever since, leaving the state far short of the enrollees promised by the O'Malley administration.

O'Malley and his point person on health care, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, have blamed the IT contractors who set up and operated Maryland's site for the disastrous rollout, including IBM. After the exchange board vote Tuesday night, IBM fired back by blaming Maryland's leadership.

"IBM has worked closely with the state to improve the user experience and has repeatedly and consistently gone above and beyond our contractual responsibilities in an effort to overcome the state's failure to properly manage the implementation of the exchange," said IBM spokesman Mitch Derman in a statement sent to 11 News.

"We take responsibility for fixing this, and we'll see IBM in court," the governor said in response.

By contrast, the state exchange built and operated by a different contractor in Connecticut has operated more efficiently. According to a report by the Kaiser Foundation, through March 1, Connecticut had enrolled 27 percent of potential private plan users. Maryland had enrolled just 9 percent.

Dr. Peter Beilenson of Evergreen Health, one of the four insurance providers on the Maryland exchange, said he has kicked the tires of the Connecticut system.

"I've actually gone on the Connecticut site. It's much easier to use. You do the shopping first and then put in personal details later, so it's much more like an Amazon-type system," Beilenson said.

To date, Maryland has spent $125.5 million to build and operate its exchange. Earlier Tuesday, the governor described the move to the Connecticut model as changing the transmission, not replacing the whole car.

The governor's office released a statement Tuesday that read, in part, "Our administration has not succeeded at every first try, but we have never given up. We learn from both success and failure. The vendors we hired failed to build us the platform they promised. So now that the first open enrollment period has ended, we've decided to upgrade our website."

"The Health Exchange Board selected a partner with a proven track record to upgrade our website using a platform that has an established record of success. We’re confident that this partner will have the website upgraded by the time the next open enrollment period begins in November," the governor's statement said.

Rep. Andy Harris, R-District 1, released a statement that read in part, "Connecticut has had one of the more successful health care exchange rollouts in the country, while Maryland has had one of the worst. The board was right to stop throwing away even more taxpayer dollars on a system that does not work. Regrettably, as opposed to joining the federal exchange, going with the Connecticut technology will still cost Marylanders tens of millions of dollars more. Plus, there is no assurance it will work in Maryland given the short time until the new open enrollment period this November."

Rep. John Delaney, D-District 6, released a statement that read in part, "It has been apparent for a very long time that the Maryland Health Connection was not fixable or patchable and that the best option was to start over. The shame is that this move didn't happen earlier because Maryland has fallen well short of its original goals ... The failure of the Maryland Health Exchange isn't just about numbers, it's about extending affordable health care coverage Marylanders, including my constituents. And make no mistake, there has been a human cost to this failure. So while today's announcement is likely a positive development for the future, there has been a real impact to the months of delay behind this move."

The CEO of the Connecticut exchange told 11 News that if Maryland adopts the Connecticut technology to rebuild its website, consumers in Maryland will log onto to the state's site, but the back office work of processing applications will be done by Connecticut.

Other options considered by the board included moving to the federal health exchange or making upgrades to the state exchange.

The state health exchange reported Friday that more than 49,000 people enrolled in private health plans as of March 22. The original goal was 150,000.

The O'Malley administration said more than 220,000 Marylanders have enrolled through Medicaid.

AS WE MENTIONED, THE BAILOUT OF MARYLAND TROUBLED EXCHANGE IS UP FOR A VOTE. LIKES THE CHANGE BOARD IS MEETING TO THIS -- JAYNE MILLER IS THERE. SHE JOINS US LIVE FROM HANOVER. THE BOARD OF THE EXCHANGES ASSEMBLING BEHIND ME. THEY STARTED AT 5:00. THEY WILL BE VOTING ON WHAT THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT CALLS ITS EXCHANGE IN A BOX. THE TECHNOLOGY AND EXPERTISE CONNECTICUT IS BUILDING TO EXPERT TO OTHER STATES TO MAKE THEIR EXCHANGES A WORK BETTER. WHAT WILL THIS COST? I HAVE MISSED TO THE SYSTEM THE MARYLAND HAS BUILT? WE ARE HERE TO TALK ABOUT THE SUCCESS OF HEALTH REFORMED. ADVOCATES OF THE HOMELESS CHEER THE EXPANSIVE MEDICAID TO. IT IS BUT THOUSANDS ON THE PUBLIC HEALTH PLAN. PEOPLE ENROLLED HAS BEEN ONE THING THAT HAS WORKED. THIS HAS BEEN A GREAT SUCCESS AND MARYLAND. AS HUGE PROPORTION OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAD NO HEALTH CARE NOW HAVE IT. ENROLLING PEOPLE IN HEALTH PLANS HAS BEEN THE PROBLEM. THE STATE WEBSITE, BUILT BY THE FORMER CONTRACTOR, CRASH UPON LAUNCH. LEAVING THE STATE FAR SHORT OF THE ENROLLEES PROMISED. THE STATE EXCHANGE BUILT AND OPERATED BY A DIFFERENT CONTRACTOR IN CONNECTICUT HAS OPERATED MORE EFFICIENTLY. CONNECTICUT HAD ENROLLED 27% OF POTENTIAL PRIVATE PLAN USERS. MARYLAND HAD ENROLLED FIVE PERCENT. ONE OF THE FOR INSURANCE PROVIDERS ON THE MARYLAND EXCHANGE SAYS HE HAS KICKED THE TIRES OF THE SYSTEM. I HAVE ACTUALLY GONE ONLINE. IT IS EASIER TO USE. YOU DO THE SHOPPING FIRST. IT IS LIKE AMAZON SYSTEM. MARYLAND HAS SPENT $125 MILLION TO BUILD AND OPERATE ITS EXCHANGE. THE GOVERNOR DESCRIBED THE MOVE TO THE CONNECTICUT MODEL IS CHANGING THE TRANSMISSION, NOT FROM WHAT -- NOT REPLACING THE CAR. THE CEO OF THE CONNECTICUT EXCHANGE TOLD US THAT MARYLAND CONNECTICUT'S TECHNOLOGY, CONSUMERS WILL LOG ON TO MARYLAND'S WEBSITE. THE ACTUAL WORK WILL BE DONE BY THE CONNECTICUT EXCHANGE. AT 5:25, THE RECOMMENDATION CONCERNING THE MARYLAND WEBSITE AND ALL OF THE TROUBLE WITH IS SUPPOSED TO TAKE PLACE. THEN THE BOARD IS INSPECTED TO GO INTO A PRIVATE SESSION. THE BOARD HAS DONE A LOT OF WORK DURING THESE MEETINGS IN CLOSED SESSION.